Early Withdrawal Penalty

Rabobank's sudden departure from pro cycling is very bad news.

The announcement today that Rabobank would end—in mere months—its 17-year run as one of the most recognizable team sponsors in pro cycling raised a lot of questions. Some of them—what happens to the team now?—are immediate and practical. Others—why Rabobank? why now?—have more complex answers, if any.

While Rabobank will end its title sponsorship on December 31, it's not Armageddon for the team—not yet. Its contract was set to run at least through 2013, and so the men's and women's pro teams will be funded and continue, although not with the familiar orange-and-blue kit. (The Rabobank cyclocross and development teams continue unchanged, separate from the pro side.)

Don't read that as pure magnanimity, however. Aside from the legal contract, Rabobank's structure means that it's difficult to unwind the deal very fast.

Unlike most teams, Rabobank was not merely a sponsor handing over a check to a separate management company (the registered paying agent recognized by the UCI). Instead, Rabo Sport, which owns and operates the team, is a subsidiary of the Dutch bank.

Similarly, while at many pro teams riders and staff are contractors, many of Rabobank's personnel were employees. Dutch employment law is quite strong in protecting employees' rights.

Richard Plugge, spokesman for the team, had not as of the publication of this post been able to respond to my request for comment on specifics of the team's continuance—funding or term. I'll revisit that when he responds.

Other sponsors may help. Giant Bicycles, the team's largest equipment partner, said in a statement that it will continue to support the team. Amid rumors that it might assume title sponsorship, Global marketing director An Le declined to comment specifically but said that Giant is "working with team management to review our sponsorship options."

Le said that Giant remains committed to sponsoring pro cycling "at the highest level" and that it is also committed to continuing to support the women's squad.

But while the team's immediate future seems to be secure, longer range it's anyone's guess.

The Rabobank decision has major parallels to T-Mobile's abrupt departure from pro cycling in November 2007, after two seasons of scandals sapped the telecommunications company's desire to remain in the sport. Again, because of an existing contract, Deutsche Telekom continued to support the team in 2008 even as it raced as the sponsor-less Highroad team.

Bob Stapleton, who managed that team from July 2006 after he replaced Olaf Ludwig, told me that he's discouraged by Rabobank's departure and what it portends for the sport.

"I'm afraid that people who question their own involvement in the sport will use this to question whether they should continue," he said. "The only good you can hope for is that this really underscores the need for structural change."

But where does that change come from? In its official announcement to end sponsorship, Rabobank board member Bert Breuggink said something that should put the entire sport on notice:

"We are no longer convinced that the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport. We are not confident that this will change for the better in the foreseeable future.”

That's chilling for any company involved in, or considering involvement in, pro cycling.

To be clear, Rabobank as a team was not exactly a bunch of choirboys. Michael Rasmussen was thrown out of the 2007 Tour de France while in the lead for lying about his whereabouts. Ex-manager Theo de Rooy, also sacked, said later that doping was a "deliberate decision" on the part of medical staff as late as 2007.

And Thomas Dekker, currently at Slipstream, was sacked from Silence-Lotto in 2009 ... for a positive EPO test from December 2007 when he was on Rabobank. He later admitted he'd used EPO during the 2008 season on Rabobank as well.

But after 2007, Rabobank began to clean up. De Rooij left, as did almost all management, and key staff like doctors. The bank acquired ownership of the team, and the new manager was Harold Knebel, who came from Rabobank corporate's private banking sector.

Although revelations like Denis Menchov's extensive and expensive links to Michele Ferrari show the cleanup was perhaps not as complete as it should have been, there's no evidence (yet) that bank staff knew of doping after 2008. (Menchov left Rabobank after 2010.)

Rabobank was also pro cycling's second-oldest current team sponsor (Euskaltel began in 1994). It had a 17-year history with the sport, a financial commitment estimated to be around $20 million a year for the entire organization, and was so deeply involved that it owned the team's management company. Now it's gone.

"That's what's devastating," said Stapleton. "It would have been much better to have Rabobank, as one of the biggest sponsors, pushing for change. They had a seat at the big table, and there's only a few seats there."

Rabobank was as connected to the levers of power as any sponsor in cycling, and still it sees the near-term future as so unlikely to change that it's better to cut its investment now than work for change.

On Monday, the UCI is set to hold a press conference to announce how it intends to handle USADA's "Reasoned Decision" report on doping by Lance Armstrong. It will likely announce that it will carry out the sanctions. (If it were appealing to CAS, why not just issue a press release rather than hold a press conference where they'd likely be crucified?)

But it remains to be seen whether Pat McQuaid or anyone else at the UCI will step forward and acknowledge any of the organization's own responsibility for cycling's long doping era. I wouldn't bet on it.

About Boulder Report

Boulder, Colorado-based contributor Joe Lindsey offers investigative journalism, analysis and humor about cycling. A popular slogan in this cycling and university town is "Keep Boulder Weird." Lindsey's certainly doing his part.